King Saul's retreat from Philistines
King Saul's retreat from Philistines
It starts when his son destroys a Philistine camp
King Saul's hasty retreat from the Philistine army began when Prince Jonathan, with a battalion of 1,000 men, attacks and destroys a Philistine camp in a small town near what is now Jerusalem. His father , King Saul, backs him up by leading 2,000 men into the area to patrol the towns and communities. Philistines retaliate with overwhelming force: 3,000 chariots pulled by 6,000 horses. And there are more infantry than anyone can count. "When Israel saw they were in trouble, most of the army retreated to anything they could crawl into or behind: caves, rocks, tombs, dry wells called cisterns, and dirt holes in the ground. They got invisible fast. Some jumped the Jordan. They crossed the Jordan River into territory of Gad’s tribe and the land of Gilead. But Saul stayed at Gilgal, with a lot of terrified Israelite citizens" (1 Samuel 13:6-7). Saul waited to attack for seven days, to give time for Samuel to get there. Samuel told him to do that. But Saul’s fighters were quickly slipping out of camp and running away. Meanwhile, Philistines set up camp in the hills around Michmash, in the area where the Israelite had been before they ran away. One more thing: "On the day of the battle, Saul and his son Jonathan each had a sword and spear. No one else did. There weren’t any weapons in town. A company of Philistines advanced to set up camp at the valley pass of Michmash." Israel didn’t have any ironsmiths who could make iron weapons or tools. Philistines outlawed it. They said, “Hebrews aren’t allowed to make swords or spears for themselves.” So, Israelites couldn’t sharpen or repair their iron plow tips, picks, axes, and sickles. They had to go to Philistine ironsmiths for that. A bronze sword doesn't hold up well against an iron one.Saul’s hunt for lost donkeys
Saul's hunt for lost donkeys
The good donkey herder Saul goes looking for his lost donkeys
1 SAMUEL 9
SAUL HUNTS DONKEY, FINDS PROPHET
Kish had some donkeys that strayed one day. So he told Saul, “Take a servant with you and round up the strays.”
They searched up and down Ephraim’s hills, and in the territories of Shalishah and Shaalim, and all over Benjamin’s tribal land. No luck. By the time they reached the territory of Zuph, Saul told the young man traveling with him, “We’d better get home. Before long, my dad’s going to start worrying about us instead of the donkeys.”
But the young man said, “Before we go home, there’s a man in the nearby town you might want to see. He serves God. People respect him. Whenever he says something will happen, it happens. Let’s go see him. Maybe he’ll help us finish what we started.”
That man was the prophet Samuel. And he was looking for the man God has selected to become the first king of Israel. Saul was that man.
Saul never found the lost donkeys. They got home some other way. By the time Saul got home, he had become the king of Israel...a job he didn't seem to want.
Saul hunts for lost donkeys
3D Bible map of the Battle of Jabesh Gilead
3D Bible map of the Battle of Jabesh Gilead
3D Bible map of the Battle of Jabesh in Gilead
Battle for Israel's right eyeballs and depth perception
Ammonite King Nahash takes his army and surrounds the Israelite town of Jabesh in Gilead. Centuries earlier, Moses and the invading Hebrews won the land from Ammon in a war the Ammonites started. Now King Nahash was coming to take it back...and to humiliate Israel in the process. When city leaders ask for peace terms, the king says, “Sure, I’ll give you peace. But you give me your right eyes. I’ll use this to disgrace Israel” (1 Samuel 11:2). King Saul of Israel gets the news at the end of a day of herding and farming. "God’s Spirit filled Saul and anger set him on fire. He slaughtered a team of two oxen, cut them to pieces, and dropped them in the mail—special delivery. He gave them to couriers to spread them throughout Israel. The meat came with a message: 'What happened to this ox will happen to you if you don’t come now and follow Saul and Samuel.' That terrified people. They came in a big way." He rallies an army of 300,000 Israelites.. "Saul told the messengers to say this to the people of Jabesh in Gilead, 'We’ll rescue you by the time the sun gets hot tomorrow.' People in Jabesh were elated to hear that. Jabesh Jews weren’t entirely honest with the Ammonites. They said, “We’ll surrender tomorrow, and you can do whatever you want to us.” When tomorrow came, so did King Saul. He divided his massive army into three battalions. And he surprised the enemy with a wake-up call during the early morning watch, sometime between 2-6 a.m. He slaughtered Ammonites all morning and into the heat of the day. Enemy survivors ran for their lives, scattered so wildly that each man ran on his own. Not even two ran together.". Saul preserves Israel's honor and depth perception. You can read the story in 1 Samuel 11. And you can check it out in other Bible translations at Bible Gateway.Battle of Jabesh
Map of Samuel’s world
Map of Samuel's world
Map of Samuel's world
God picks three longshot characters to star in the stories of 1 Samuel, which we track on 3D-style maps customized for each Bible chapter. Those three men—Samuel, Saul, and David—are longshots in the sense that if God ever bets on a horserace, he’ll pick the one with the worst odds. It seems God likes to win big. And he likes to make a splash that people will notice. These stories are action dramas about the morphing of Israel’s 12 tribes into one united nation under God.Mapping Samuel's story
It all begins with Samuel as a longshot baby born to an infertile woman. Once he’s able to eat solid food, his mother gives him back to God. She takes him to the worship center, where he’s raised by Eli, a priest who did a bad job raising his own two sons. They grew up to become corrupt priests. But somehow, Samuel grew into a wonderful priest and prophet.Tracking Saul
Israel’s first king, Saul, was a shy donkey herder until Samuel anointed him king—a job Saul didn’t want. When Samuel called in Israel’s tribal leaders and announced Saul as king, Saul wasn’t there. He was hiding among the baggage of the travelers. It seems a fair guess he was hanging with the donkeys who had hauled the baggage. King Saul made two huge mistakes. He disobeyed God’s strict orders. And he got insanely jealous of David’s popularity. He seemed to devote more time to hunting David than to preparing for the threat of Philistines living next door, along the coastland. David never showed any desire to kill Saul. Philistines killed him and three of his sons.Tracking David
The Goliath Killer was the last son of nine—the runt of a shepherd’s family at a time when shepherds had only one way to go on the social ladder. Up. When the famous prophet and priest Samuel came to meet the family so he could anoint a future king, David’s dad called in all his sons but David. The youngest stayed with the livestock until Samuel insisted on meeting him, too. By the last chapter in the book, Samuel and Saul are dead. So, David is no longer a refugee on the run from the king. He’s an experienced raider of non-Israelite towns. And he shares the livestock he takes with his friends and the leaders of his own tribe of Judah. That sets him up for the story that continues in 2 Samuel, when those friends will crown him king of Judah. Other tribes will follow later, to make him king of all Israel.ONE BOOK SPLIT IN TWO
First and Second Samuel were written as one book. But it was too long to fit on a single scroll. So, when Jewish scholars translated it into the international language of the day, Greek, in the decades before Jesus was born, they split it into two books. They did the same with the books of Kings and Chronicles. The story begins here, in 1 Samuel 1. So do the Bible maps of Samuel's world. To compare the story to other Bible versions, try Bible Gateway.Samuel's World
Map of Samuel’s route as a traveling judge
Map of Samuel's route as a traveling judge
Map Samuel's circuitous court route
Judge of Israel
Mapping the story of Samuel: “Samuel led Israel and settled legal disputes throughout his life. He judged cases in year-long cycles, traveling from Bethel, to Gilgal, to Mizpah. The fourth stop of the year was his hometown, Ramah.” (1 Samuel 7:15-17). The Bible's book of Judges reports the stories of heroic leaders of Israel rising up to meet a challenge, usually raiders. They include Deborah, Gideon, and Samson. It's surprising to many that Samuel is considered the last of Israel's "judges," even though he's not mentioned in the book of Judges. But he was one of the few leaders of Israel who was actually a court judge who adjudicated legal cases. He traveled a three-town circuit in central Israel before retreating to his nearby hometown. Philistines stopped invading Israel and attacking them. Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, God kept the Philistines in check. Israel recaptured two Philistine cities and the surrounding land that the Philistines had taken from them: Ekron and Gath. Israelites lived peacefully alongside their Amorite neighbors in the land. The story continues with the Israelites asking Samuel to give them a king like other nations, 1 Samuel 8. For other Bible versions, see Bible Gateway.Samuel's circuitous court route
Valley of Elah
Valley of Elah
Mortal Combat in the Valley of Elah
David vs Goliath
Philistine and Israelite armies line up on opposite sides of the Valley of Elah, along the border of both nations. Goliath, champion warrior of the Philistines, steps up to challenge any willing Israelite to a fight to the death, winner take all. He protected his head with a bronze helmet. And he wore a coat of small bronze plates linked like fish scales. It weighed 125 pounds (57 kg). He wore bronze leg guards, and he carried a bronze javelin slung over his back. He also carried a spear with a shaft that looked as thick as a weaver’s beam. The iron spearhead alone weighed at least 15 pounds (6.8 kg). A soldier walked ahead of him, protecting him by carrying a tall shield. Goliath shouted across the narrow valley at Israel’s army, “Let’s be reasonable. We don’t need our armies to fight each other. I’m one Philistine. Why don’t you pick one of Saul’s men to fight me? If he kills me, we lose. Philistines will serve your people. If I kill him, you lose. Israel serves us. 10I challenge your army to mortal combat. Send me a man willing to fight.” The only willing Israelite was David, a shepherd armed with just a slingshot and some rocks. David drops Goliath with a rock to the head. Then David cuts off the soldier's head. Philistines run away, with suddenly-brave Israelites chasing them and killing them all day. That's as long as it takes them to reach safety in their walled cities of Gath and Ekron. The story is in 1 Samuel 17. For other Bible versions of the story, see Bible Gateway.Valley of Elah where David killed Goliath
Map of En-Gedi
Map of En-Gedi
En-Gedi map
Most famous scene:
David and some of his men hide in one of the many caves. Saul picks that cave as the King’s Toilet. David sneaks up and cuts off part of Saul’s cloak. Later, David calls the king, shows him the clipping — proof he doesn’t want to hurt Saul. The king weeps. Before he leaves, humiliated, he confesses to David, “Your the better man here.” 1 Samuel 24:17En-Gedi desert oasis
Battle of Elah
Battle of Elah
In the Battle of Elah, David and Goliath fought to settle the dispute between Philistines and Israelites. It didn't stop the war. The idea was for just one man to die. That way, the Philistine and Israelite armies wouldn't have to continue their war. More likely, though, the Philistines just wanted to put the fear of Dagon into the Israelites. They did it by introducing them to someone no one would want to meet on the battlefield. Goliath.
David killed Goliath with one stone fired from a sling, the ancient version of mobile artillery.
Philistines were supposed to surrender to Israel and live under the thumb of their king.
Instead, they ran away. Israelite soldiers chased them all day long. They ran them to the gates of their walled cities of Gath and Ekron. Those were the two Philistine cities closest to the battlefield.
David's story comes to life—bigger than life—in 1 Samuel 17.
David and Goliath at Elah Valley
David and Goliath at Elah Valley
Mortal combat
David and Goliath at Elah Valley: David and Goliath fight to the death in a battle of mortal combat at the Valley of Elah. The idea is for one man to die so the Philistine and Israelite armies don't have to fight. In theory, at least. More likely, the Philistines just wanted to put the fear of Dagon into the Israelites by introducing them to someone no one would want to meet on the battlefield.Excerpt
4One day a Philistine soldier started walking toward the Israelites. He was the Philistine champion warrior, Goliath. He came from the Philistine city of Gath. Goliath stood six feet, nine inches (2 meters) tall. 5He protected his head with a bronze helmet. And he wore a coat of small bronze plates linked like fish scales. It weighed 125 pounds (57 kg). 6He wore bronze leg guards, and he carried a bronze javelin slung over his back. 7He also carried a spear with a shaft that looked as thick as a weaver’s beam. The iron spearhead alone weighed at least 15 pounds (6.8 kg). A soldier walked ahead of him, protecting him by carrying a tall shield. 8Goliath shouted across the narrow valley at Israel’s army, “Let’s be reasonable. We don’t need our armies to fight each other. I’m one Philistine. Why don’t you pick one of Saul’s men to fight me? 9If he kills me, we lose. Philistines will serve your people. If I kill him, you lose. Israel serves us. 10I challenge your army to mortal combat. Send me a man willing to fight.” 11Goliath’s words shocked and terrified Saul and his men.Losers
It didn't go the Philistine way. Their champion warrior fell stone-cold dead to David's sling. Philistines should have surrendered. But they ran home instead. Israelite soldiers chased and killed them along the way, up to the gates of the towns of Gath and Ekron. From Elah to Ekron would have been about a day's walk. But it probably didn't take the Philistines as long to get home from the battle as it did to get there. The story is in 1 Samuel 17.Valley of Elah, David v. Goliath
Map of Shiloh
Map of Shiloh
Bible map of Shiloh.
Israel decided to plant their worship center in Shiloh after they settled in the Promised Land, which is now Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories.
When Eli was priest of Israel, Philistines routed Israel’s army, stole the Ark of the Covenant and probably destroyed Shiloh’s worship facilities. Bible scholars make that presumption because the battle, Eli and his two sons were dead and Bible writers never mentioned people worshiping at Shiloh it again.
The story of the battle is reported in 1 Samuel 4.
Shiloh, home of Israel's worship center